Clock Format
The clock format, also known as the high-speed format according to Chris Tarrant, is a format which debuted in America during its seventh syndicated season, which involves time limits to answering questions. History The time limit is a Disney invention, and is the result of The Walt Disney Company owning the rights to the show in the United States; everywhere else in the world, original production company Celador (now 2waytraffic) directly controls the show, but in the United States, Disney controls the show. Back in the day, when Celador invented the show, Celador did not implement time limits because they wanted to place emphasis on suspense and drama. When they came to the United States in 1999, however, they decided to license the show to Disney, and unlike Celador, Disney believed that contestants should have strict, tight time limits to answering questions. Rather than using the same computer, video game, and DVD game adaptations as the UK and European versions, Disney decided to make their own adaptations of the show, and in all of Disney's computer, video game, and DVD game adaptations of the show, as well as their former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attraction at Walt Disney World, they always put players up against strict, tight time limits. Eventually, in 2008, they put their contestants up against the clock on the real show, adding "the dreaded clock" on the seventh season of the syndicated U.S. version, deriving its rules from the former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attraction at Walt Disney World. Other countries have soon adapted their own time limits on their versions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, such as Japan, United Kingdom, and India. In 2010, starting on the ninth season of the syndicated U.S. version, the U.S. clock format was replaced with the "shuffle format", where the first ten questions have randomized difficulty. Gameplay changes In the U.S. and U.K. versions, Fastest Finger First has been removed, allowing contestants to begin the game immediately. The addition of a time limit to the game is a major change in itself. In most versions, the clock starts as soon as all of the choices are displayed on the screen; the clock continues to tick as the host reads the four possible choices. In some versions, the timer instead starts once the question and the four choices are read. Usually, failing to answer within the time limit forces the contestant to walk away from the question (unless Double Dip was used and a second answer was not given in time, which instead has the same effects as a wrong answer), and any usage of lifelines would temporarily stop the clock. Moreover, usually, an answer would be valid even if the clock expires while it is being said (and finalized) by the contestant, provided that the contestant does not momentarily stop talking while in the process of doing so. United States version :"This is Millionaire like you've never seen it before. I want you to listen to this. (Clock ticking sounds play) That is the dreaded clock that we have added to gameplay on every question, and that means that Millionaire is gonna be faster, more exciting, and much more nerve-wracking than ever before." :- Meredith Vieira The U.S. clock format era lasted for two syndicated seasons (and a primetime special) between 2008 and 2010. The rules were derived from the former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attraction at Walt Disney World. Questions 1-5 would have a 15-second time limit, questions 6-10 would have a 30-second time limit, and questions 11-14 would have a 45-second time limit. Any unused time from any of these questions would be "banked". On question 15 (for $1,000,000), the time limit would be 45 seconds, plus the "banked" time from questions 1-14. The lifelines in this format were Phone-A-Friend, Double Dip, Ask the Audience and Ask the Expert. At first, Ask the Expert was only available for use after the fifth question. Later in the format, Phone-A-Friend was removed, because it was being used against its usual intentions; to compensate, the Ask the Expert lifeline became available from the start of the game. Another notable change was that at the end of a contestant's run, the graphic message was changed from "Total Prize Money" to "Total Winnings". The only person who won the $1,000,000 top prize during this format is Sam Murray, during the Million-Dollar Tournament of Ten. Sam won the prize after being the only person, among the ten people in the tournament, to answer his tournament question correctly. Nobody won the top prize of $1,000,000 in completely regular clock format play. Ken Basin got to the final question on the final episode of the 10th Anniversary Celebration, but he answered the final question incorrectly, losing $475,000 and leaving with only $25,000. United Kingdom version :"Hello and welcome to the new-look, high-speed, high-risk, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where questions are won or lost against the merciless ticking of our big bad clock." :- Chris Tarrant This version was implemented in 2010, and lasted until the end of Series 30 in 2014 (except for Chris' Final Answer, which was a clip show). The lifelines were the same as before: 50:50, Phone-A-Friend, and Ask the Audience, with Switch the Question arriving later on in gameplay. The basis for this version was the same as the 12-question format introduced in 2007. This version had several differences to the United States version: instead of a sound effect of a clock being embedded into the question music, a separate music cue by Ramon Covalo was composed instead; as well as this, the graphic for said click used the same design as the Phone-A-Friend clock instated in 2007. After question 7, the clock is removed and the contestant will gain the Switch lifeline. The Switch Lifeline has the same sound effect as the Phone-a-Friend end call noise when the lifeline was used, but reversed when the new question shows up. Other versions Quiz $ Millionaire, the Japanese version of Millionaire, adapted the clock format starting with its eleventh season in 2009. Questions 1-9 would have a 30-second time limit, questions 10-12 would have a 60-second time limit, and questions 13-15 would have a 3-minute time limit. In Kaun Banega Crorepati, an Indian version of Millionaire, time limits were added on the fourth season in 2010. The time limits on the questions of this version have changed several times across seasons, ranging from 30 to 60 seconds on the first questions to no time limit at all on the last ones. Time limits have also been implemented on the other Indian versions of Millionaire, as well as the South Korean and Egyptian versions. ''Millionaire Hot Seat'', an Australian spin-off of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, also has time limits, however, its implementation of a time limit is not its main difference from the original Millionaire format. Category:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Category:Gameplay